Well I havent done anything with the blog section in a while. And since ive had a pretty cool/crazy couple of weeks...i thought i would share it here for anyone that may be interested.
I left NC close to a month ago. We got 4 and a half inches of snow in greenville witch meant it was time for me to get the hell out of town. Im not a big fan of snow, but we did manage to have some fun with it. Instead of building a snow man, we built a 4 foot snow penis....the end result of being snowed in for 2 days with lots of booze and an apartment full of college kids. A few days later i packed my van and headed to Pawleys Island South Carolina to play at THE PIT. It was a fun show like normal and i crashed on one of the bartenders couch. He needed a ride home and i needed a place to crash for the night, so that worked out well for the both of us. The next night i drove to Jacksonville Florida to pass out some demos and hang out with mike splinter who has been a friend of mine since the 2nd grade. Then i went to new smyrna beach to play a show at THE BEACHSIDE TAVERN. I then hung out in daytona beach at dan daileys house for a couple days before going down to key west to play a handfull of shows.
In the midst of all that, i got a call from a booking agent in the caribbean that had booked me 5 shows in st john. Obviously I was completly thrilled by this. I realized once i got there that he wasnt so much of a booking agent, he was more like a tour manager...witch is obviously much better. ( i could go into the differences between the two, but that would be quite borring and i can tell this blog is gonna be long enough). So i got a plane ticket, left key west, and drove back to daytona and caught a ride to the orlando airport.
For those that know me well, know that i am both a night owl and an insomniac..so the end result was me not sleeping the day before i traveled ( i was up for a total of 40 hours before i feel asleep). I hadnt flown in a couple of years and airport security has gotten even stranger since then. I had 2 tubes of toothpaste in my carry on bag..one of those tubes was confiscated. It turned out that toothepaste has to be in a zip lock bag like the other tube was. Also a few cans of "chef boyardee" was confiscated as well. Then you have to take your shoes off for a security check...however you have to put them back on to get on the plane. One would think that letting me be barefoot would save a hassell and provide peace of mind to fellow travelers that i dont have a bomb in my shoe. That was not the case and was asked (told) i had to put them back on immediatly. But enough about airport security. Lets get to the caribbean !!
I flew into st thomas. Joseph (tour manager) picked me up and handed me a corona as soon as i got in the car. Im more of a liquor drinker then a beer drinker but as they say..when in rome. We drove around the island a bit, then hopped on a ferry to take us to st john: a 9 x 5 plot of land in the virgin islands. We had also realized that we had a mutual friend in the states (thats you heather). We got there and went to the bar for a few drinks, drunked dialed heather, then i got back to the house and passed the fuck out (afterall i was up for close to 40 hours at that point). I was happy to know that i had 2 days before my first show witch gave me time to explore this island and to let joesph find me all the rental gear that i couldnt take on the plane.
Joesph had a lady friend from the states that was in town and a new roomate that didnt have a job yet. Both of these ladies knew the island well and had no day obligations, so they became my unofficial tour guides everyday that i was there. The first day we hitch hiked to water lemon beach witch is a beach that is well known for seeing sea turtles (side note: hitch hiking is still safe and alive in st john and is a normality there). Also, going to this beach meant a hike through the jungle witch fascinated me greatly since i had never been in a jungle before. As soon as we dove in the water with our snorkle gear we instantly saw sea turtles that werent much smaller then us. So we spent the better part of that day swimming with these sea turtles that were not the least bit afraid of us. Also i found a large conch shell in near perfect condition and what appears to be a shark toothe the size of my hand..both of witch i managed to slide by customs unlike my toothepaste.
The next day i saw a steel pan band (steel drum band) that had roughly 30 members all between the ages of 7 and 17....theres nothing like watching a 9 year old with dreads playing a steel pan better then you while twirling his sticks in between notes. Joesph of course arranged this for me and a quick meeting with the band leader who i was able to rent a steel pan from for my shows.
That night i met another musician who was also from greenville and i jammed with him at the venue he was at.
The next day i went to the beach (like i did everyday i was there) and then played a club called LARRYS LANDING. My next gig was at THE BEACH BAR. Those gigs went so well that i managed to loose my voice witch is not cool. So i ended up arranging to play the next gig insturmentally witch went over surprisingly well. The audience understood completly and was truly intrigued by my playing of mutiple instruments that the lack of vocals didnt bother them. The club owner was pleasantly surprised as well.
The following day we woke up early and caught a ferry to an island called Jost Van Dyke witch might now be my favorite place in the world. I ended up playing an inprompto performance there. This place is impossbile to describe but if you run into me at a bar one night...ask me and ill try to explain why this island kicks so much ass.
The rest of my time there was filled with more of the same. Fortunatly that was a good thing. Overall it has to be one of the best tours ive ever done and certainly one of the most memorable. The music buisness is anything but reliable, but im hopping to have the opportunity to do this all over again. I hopped on my plane and my friend dan dailey picked me up from the airport, So im chillin in daytona for a week or so before heading to SC and NC to play a few shows before i do my annual "Spring Break East Coast Tour".